The present invention relates to an auction method using a communication network. In particular, the present invention relates to an automatic auction method whereby purchasing persons located in remote places participate in a transaction by sending auction ordering information to an auctioneer via an open communication network represented by the Internet and an auction is automatically conducted on the basis of the auction ordering information.
Wholesale marketplaces serve as places for making distribution of fresh foods and the like smooth and making transactions of them proper. In particular, prices formed in wholesale marketplaces exert great influences on the growing areas and consumption. In the wholesale marketplace system, therefore, prices need to be formed by quick and fair valuation based upon the supply-demand relations of the fresh foods. Accordingly, purchase and sale transactions in wholesale marketplaces are conducted by the "auction or sealed bid" in principle.
As against such a principle, transaction forms such as the "receipt in advance" (the wholesale before the sale start time) have become the mainstream instead of the marketplace transactions as a result of the increase in scale of growing areas, the increase in distance from growing areas, the increase in scale of retail departments, and the progress of intensiveness of the retail departments. In addition, electronized products are also becoming subjects of transactions.
In order to destroy such a status quo, "information transactions" using advance shipping information given from shipping persons by making information concerning transactions electronic are now under study in various places. As one form realizing this information transaction, a system is shown in JP-B-7-117976. In this system, shipping information given from shipping persons is provided to wholesalers and bidders, the wholesalers and the bidders conduct a bid on the basis of the shipping information, and a wholesaler or a bidder of the highest price makes a successful bid. As a method for mechanically conducting transaction processing which relates to the information transactions, there is a mechanical auction ("Is there a future in wholesale marketplaces," edited by Shigeo Akitani/Food distribution study society and published by Japan economic newspaper company in 1996, pp. 140-143). In the mechanical auction, all purchasing persons gather around a marketplace, and present desired prices from respective terminal devices. Besides this, the mechanical auction described in this paper provides the following function. Even if a certain person is not present in the marketplace, the person can effect a sealed bid at the time of the auction so long as the person inputted beforehand desired quantities and desired prices for a desired list of articles.
In the former cited JP-B-7-117976, mechanization of a sealed bid is described. In the mechanical auction of the latter cited paper, auction mechanization is described. In an actual auction, however, a purchasing person does not always conduct a successful bid at a preset desired price. Even in the case where the latter cited auction mechanization is employed, price presentation needs to be conducted between the bidder and the auctioneer according to the situation of the auction several times until the end of the auction. While the auction is being conducted, a person restrained before an auction terminal device needs to form a judgment and give instructions according to the situation of the auction.
Furthermore, in the case of an auction, bidders must cope with the present situations extemporaneously. Therefore, the bidders must participate on-line and in real time.